Mix-up has sex offenders registered in wrong area .

October 19, 2000

Authorities were surprised to learn this week that a group home for sex offenders had located in unincorporated Arapahoe County.

The group home and four sex offenders living in it were registered with Denver authorities. They should have been registered with Arapahoe County.

Now, they are.

Capt. Phil Spence, Arapahoe County Sheriff's spokesman, said the group home has a Denver mailing address, but is actually in unincorporated Arapahoe County, near South Holly Street and East Evans Avenue.

"They didn't try to break the spirit of the law," Spence said. "They tried to do right."

Authorities were alerted about 9 a.m. Tuesday that the group home was in Arapahoe County, Spence said.

"An area resident tipped us off to the fact that, 'Do you know a bunch of sex offenders is living in this house?"' Spence said. "The answer was, 'No, how could this be?' It turns out they thought they were in Denver."

The home is five houses inside the Arapahoe County line, in the Holly Hills neighborhood, Spence said. It is also close to Holly Hills Elementary School.

By 4 p.m. Tuesday, the four offenders were registered with Arapahoe County, complying with state law that says convicted sex offenders must register with the law enforcement agency that has jurisdiction over where they're living.


Copyright © 2000 Denver Rocky Mountain News, by Gary Massaro.